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Chapter Thirty-Nine: Anger
Chapter Thirty-Nine: AngerTom grit his teeth, trying to suppress the agitation boiling inside of him. Their small group was travelling directly through the Grounds, aiming to hit the exit of the western trade road where it left the Deep Green and ran onwards to Horizon, tiny ships sailing across an ...
Chapter Thirty-Eight: The Road Home
Chapter Thirty-Eight: The Road HomeWeary footsteps beat a soft, rhythmic tattoo on the hard packed dirt of the northern trade road. The quiet murmur of voices provided a soft harmony to the never-ending susurrus of grass in the wind. The expedition, now much reduced, limped home towards Horizon.The ...
Chapter Thirty-Seven: Running Battle
Chapter Thirty-Seven: Running BattleTom was tired. He couldn’t ever remember being so bone-weary. Not during the Reaping, when he had spent days abused by orcs and then more fleeing through a forest with only a handful of skills to his name, or during the guerilla war in the Deep, when they had sp...
Chapter Thirty-Six: Pursuit
Chapter Thirty-Six: PursuitTom wrenched his spear from the corpse of an orc, and the brute collapsed bonelessly into the long grass. Sesame roared, and a cloud of razor sharp shards of obsidian peppered an approaching pack of winewolves even as Tom’s spear lashed out and claimed the orc’s life.T...
Chapter Thirty-Five: A Wing and a Prayer
Chapter Thirty-Five: A Wing and a PrayerTensions rose all through the next day. The expedition was surrounded by at least one hundred of the huge, savage orcs, with more filtering in. The fact that they were only keeping pace at a distance, shadowing them, was only cause for more tension.It was unli...
Chapter Thirty-Four: Grinding on
Chapter Thirty-Four: Grinding onThe first week went well for the expedition. They encountered the usual problems: attacks by beasts, some interpersonal friction, a handful of injuries resulting from them, but these were expected on any foray outside of a fortress city.They made good time, forging no...
Chapter Thirty-Three: Vacation
Chapter Thirty-Three: VacationThe first several days of travel were uneventful. The expedition was attacked regularly, but it was no issue for the bloody monks.They had all trained in the Proving Grounds. They all made regular pilgrimages to far off lands, and to do so, they had to travel across the...
Chapter Thirty-Two: Details
Chapter Thirty-Two: DetailsThe next day, Tom and Rosa hiked back up to the monastery before dawn. In the cool mountain air, they found the expedition, mostly ready to go, waiting only on Abbess Sunrise and some senior monks in a last minute conference with Sunset.Tom and Rosa joined Darius, who flas...
Chapter Thirty-One: Family Time
Chapter Thirty-One: Family TimeAs Tom’s martial skill improved, so did his geopolitical, economic, tactical and strategic understanding. As the expedition drew closer to leaving, he found himself reminiscing on his time in the Deep, the siege, and its aftermath.Although he had continued to improve...
Chapter Thirty: Preparations
Chapter Thirty: PreparationsThe next week was a blur of frenetic activity as the monastery prepared for the expedition. As Tom and Rosa had entered the monastery for the first time, he had noted the hustle and bustle, thinking to himself that the level of activity could not be regular.He was correct...
Chapter Twenty-Nine: Faith
Chapter Twenty-Nine: FaithTom tensed, expecting Lyanna to burst into immediate action, but the brawny woman simply closed her eyes and inclined her head. She intoned a steady stream of prayer under her breath.“O Goddess, Peerless Warrior, hallowed in name and deed, strengthen my arm as yours is st...
Chapter Twenty-Eight: Gambit
Chapter Twenty-Eight: GambitSilence hung in the hall like an indrawn breath. For a moment, pure shock grasped everyone’s throats.Tom smiled as a wall of sound roared and broke over him. The monks clapped and stamped so hard he could feel it in the ancient marble floor through his boots. The noise ...
Chapter Twenty-Seven: Flawless
Chapter Twenty-Seven: FlawlessMonks roared with approval as the duel ended. They stamped their feet and clapped, whistling and yelling their approval.Rosa simply stood, watching Abbess Sunrise and Abbot Sunset with an even expression. Both looked vaguely amused.“Well,” Sunrise said when the hubb...
Chapter Twenty-Six: Smoke and Mirrors
Chapter Twenty-Six: Smoke and Mirrors“You must prove yourselves,” Abbess Sunrise said with a feline smile.Tom shrugged. He was keen to train against the monks while he was here anyway, but he didn’t think they’d actually indulge him. He was not so keen on the implication that he and Rosa wou...
Chapter Twenty-Five: Sunrise and Sunset
Chapter Twenty-Five: Sunrise and Sunset“The Monastery of the Bloody Dawn welcomes Wayrest,” the Abbess said. “We have much to discuss.”Her voice was deep and husky, but her tone was surprisingly light. She did not smile though, and fierce intelligence lit in her hooded eyes as she appraised ...
Chapter Twenty-Four: The Monastery of the Bloody Dawn
Chapter Twenty-Four: The Monastery of the Bloody DawnTom took a deep breath and grasped Rosa’s hand as they made their way to the small gates at the back of Horizon.He was nervous about the upcoming meeting, but grateful that he wouldn’t be the one doing the bulk of the negotiating. That task wa...
Chapter Twenty-Three: Reunion
Chapter Twenty-Three: ReunionRosa slumped in her seat, arms crossed, trying her hardest to manifest the Ideal of Scowling.“Oh, Rooosiee, you didn’t!” her sister Talia screeched.Tom was regaling them with a story about Rosa. She had gotten overly cross with him at one point while they were figh...
Chapter Twenty-Two: Horizon
Chapter Twenty-Two: HorizonIt took them another half an hour to ride up the gently sloping river valley to Horizon. Tom could tell Rosa chafed at the delay, and yet they could not gallop down the road without alarming both the workers tending the fields and the guardsmen.Soon they reached the gates ...
Chapter Twenty-One: Proven
Chapter Twenty-One: ProvenPeach light filtered softly from the dawn sky. They had woken in darkness and been on the road with the moon still crisp in the black velvet canvas above. The feet of their familiars drummed a steady beat on the road. The ever-present smell of grass hung heavy in the air as...
Chapter Twenty: Parliamentary Deliberations
Chapter Twenty: Parliamentary Deliberations“Right, then, Tom Cutter, let us get your uplift dealt with so we can go,” Rosa said.“Are you sure?” He said, enjoying teasing them after they’d made him wait. “We could always go over yours and Darius’ again.”Darius snorted, but Rosa was no...
Chapter Nineteen: Honey
Note: I'm back! Sorry for the long absence everyone. Family stuff is all back on track now, and I'm in a much better headspace to deliver you all chapters.On that note, tier one has been increased to 5 chapters, tier two to 10, and tier 3 to 20 chapters! Which means an extra ten chapters tod...
Chapter Eighteen: Busy Living
Chapter Eighteen: Busy LivingTom eventually managed to mollify Rosa by refusing to do more than glance at his uplift before she had agreed to discuss hers. Darius helped by laughing so loudly and for so long that they began to worry he would draw the attention of beasts even through the wardpoles. R...
Chapter Seventeen: Debrief
Chapter Seventeen: DebriefTom awoke to a bright sun hanging low in the morning sky. He groaned, struggling upwards, but found only Darius and Tanya awake.“Morning, Tom,” Tanya said cheerily. It seemed a decent night’s sleep had done wonders for her energy.Darius gave him a grin and a nod. “W...
Chapter Sixteen: Moonlight
Hello everyone,Apologies for the absence. A small update for you today.A family member received a bad diagnosis, and I've been taking some time to process.This has come just before a planned vacation for a month, so not great timing. I had planned to use the week before the vacation to smash out...
Chapter Fifteen: Shit Yeah
Author's Note: This might be one of my favourite chapters I've written yet. Hope you enjoy :)Chapter Fifteen: Shit Yeah“ROSA!” Tom screamed.Every fibre of his being hitched. His focus narrowed down to her, turning, slowly, too slowly to see the tendrils of snaking from the shadows in the...
Chapter Fourteen: Strength and Speed
Chapter Fourteen: Strength and SpeedTom was a whirlwind.Never before had he felt so shockingly quick. He skidded, positioning, trying to process the information from his senses, from Sesame, from his birds. The perception buffs from Sweet Suffering helped somewhat, but his speed was exceeding how fa...
Chapter Thirteen: Inconsistencies
Chapter Thirteen: InconsistenciesTom watched as the orcs approached. Three things became instantly apparent: it was a full warband, they would be on them in minutes, and they were most definitely different from the orcs in the Deep.He watched through Sus and Sol as the thirty or so orcs strolled clo...
Chapter Twelve: Grass Sharks
Chapter Twelve: Grass SharksIt wasn’t long before the rest of the group began to hear the barks themselves. They drifted in on the wind, weaker than those created by the wind sprites though more natural sounding than them, and obviously coming from a separate source.The remaining three wind sprite...
Chapter Eleven: Wind
Chapter Eleven: WindThe group forwent lunch, Darius citing it as being too risky to stop so near the site of an attack. There was always a high potential for other predators to be drawn in. So it was that the group, though they were a little bemused at how easy their encounter with the grass sprites...
Chapter Ten: Sensation
Chapter Ten: SensationIt took just over an hour for the salve to purge the last of the sandscale venom from Sesame’s system. Once he was cured, and fully healed from sleeping, Tom woke him up, and the party carried on.Darius explained that the sandscales were notorious for the lethality of their t...
